As a conventional imaging apparatus of this kind, there is one, for example, described in Patent document 1 which is formerly applied for a patent by the applicant of the present invention. In this Patent document 1, there is a description regarding a pop-up mechanism of a flashlight device and a camera apparatus including the mechanism. The pop-up mechanism of the flashlight device includes a flashlight device that is supported and is capable of moving between a pop-up position and storage position, spring means urging the flashlight device to the pop-up position, an activating member having locking means for holding the flashlight device in the storage position and a plunger linked with the activating member, whose magnetically attracting force is released when electricity is turned on.
Then, when the flashlight device is in the stored state, the activating member is drawn by a magnetic force generated at the plunger against the spring force of the spring means and an operation of holding the flashlight in the storage position is carried out by using the locking means. Further, by applying current to the plunger to release the magnetic attraction, the locking means is moved backward with the spring force of the spring means and the flashlight device is made to spring up to the pop-up position.
According to the pop-up mechanism of this flashlight device, since the pop-up mechanism can be obtained with a small space and the number of components can drastically be reduced, miniaturization, weight saving and inexpensive manufacture of the flashlight become possible.
Further, as another conventional imaging apparatus, there is one, for example, described in Patent document 2. In the patent document 2, there is described an imaging apparatus with respect to a single lens reflex camera integrating a flashlight device. The single lens reflex camera is characterized by including light-emitting means in the vicinity of the upper part of a pent-a-prism of the finder optical system through a rise-up mechanism, and the light-emitting means occupy two positions such as a projecting position and a storage position by the rise-up mechanism.
According to the single lens reflex camera having such a constitution, since a light-emitting tube is integrated in the upper part of the pent-a-prism, photoflash shooting, daytime synchronized-shooting and the like can be performed with the same ease as is the case of a conventional compact camera.
In addition, as a prior art of the present invention by this applicant with respect to the imaging apparatus of the present invention, there is one, for example, described in Patent document 3. In the patent document 3, there are descriptions with respect to a reflecting mirror used in an electronic flashlight device that irradiates as a whole light directly irradiated from a light source and light reflected from a reflecting surface on a subject, and an electronic flashlight device using the reflecting mirror. The reflecting mirror for the electronic flashlight device is characterized in that a pair of first reflecting surfaces made of part of a cylindrical curved surfaces opposed to each other and a second reflecting surface which is continuous from the pair of first reflecting surfaces and in which a light source is stored are included, and continuous portion in which the pair of first reflecting surfaces and the second reflecting surface are continued is set at the opening portion side of the first reflecting surface rather than the central portion of the stored light source.
According to the electronic flashlight device reflecting mirror having such a constitution, the following effectiveness can be obtained that all or most of reflecting light can be emitted to the front from the opening portion at a predetermined light distribution angle, whereby the electronic flashlight device can be made thinner and miniaturized while maintaining a predetermined optical capability.                Patent document 1                    Published Japanese Patent Application 2002-250962 (page 4, FIG. 4)                        Patent document 2                    Published Japanese Patent Application S62-121428 (page 3, FIG. 2A, FIG. 2B)                        Patent document 3                    Japanese Patent Application 2003-151190                        
However, in any one of the pop-up mechanism of the flashlight device of the patent document 1 and that of the single lens reflex camera of the patent document 2 with respect to the prior art mentioned above, since a pop-up angle is as large as 35 degrees in an impact test and the like of a projecting body when the flashlight device was in the state of being made to spring up to the pop-up position, there was a problem that the thickness of sheet metal that becomes a structural thing had to be made thicker or the structural thing had to be so structured as to be resistant to transformation in order to secure enough strength. Further, in the case of the pop-up mechanism of the flashlight device of the patent document 1, there had been a problem that since a pop-up rock plunger was disposed on the rear side of a pop-up shaft, the flashlight device became large, with the result that when it was incorporated into a set, a camera device became inevitably large.
These problems will be explained further in detail. FIG. 16 shows FIG. 2 described in the patent document 2 and is a schematic perspective view of a camcorder (video-tape recorder) 100 with a flashlight device in the state of being made to spring up to a pop-up position. Further, FIG. 17 shows FIG. 4 similarly described in the patent document 1 and is a cross-sectional view of the flashlight device being in an operational state of being popped up from the camcorder 100.
In FIG. 16, a symbol 101 is an exterior case, a symbol 102 is a lens device, a symbol 103 is a microphone device, a symbol 104 is a view-finder, respectively. Further, a symbol 105 is a liquid crystal display, a symbol 106 is a photo-button for taking still images, a symbol 107 is a mode-switch lever for selectively switching among a video mode, power off, camera mode and memory mode and a symbol 108 is a flashlight device.
The flashlight device 108 is disposed at the upper front side of the exterior case 101 and is capable of selectively being in a storage position or in a pop-up position by a pop-up mechanism. That is, the flashlight device 108 is stored in a stroboscope storage portion 109 of the exterior case 101 when the amount of light for a subject is secured at a time of shooting a still image, and is in a non-use state in the storage position. On the other hand, when the amount of light for a subject for shooting a still image is insufficient, the flashlight device 108 is made to spring up from within the stroboscope storage portion 109, moves to an upper pop-up position and becomes a usable state.
The pop-up mechanism 110 of this flashlight device 108 has a constitution shown in FIG. 17. Namely, the pop-up mechanism 110 includes a base frame 111 fixed to the exterior case 101, an activating member 112 supported by the base frame 111 to turn in the horizontal direction, a plunger mechanism 113 attached to the base frame 111, a movable frame 114 supported by the base frame 111 to turn upward and downward, a coil spring 115 urging the movable frame 114 upward and the like.
The base frame 111 has a pair of bearing pieces 117 opposed to each other and a supporting shaft 118 is supported at its both ends by the pair of bearing pieces 117. To the supporting shaft 118 is supported the movable frame 114 to turn upward and downward and is loaded the coil spring 115. One spring piece 115a of the coil spring 115 is locked with one bearing piece 117 and the other spring piece 115b is locked with the movable frame 114, and the movable frame 114 is constantly urged upward with the spring force of the coil spring 115. By pressing downward a free-end side of the movable frame 114 against the spring force of the coil spring 115, the movable frame 114 is made capable of turning from the state of facing up diagonally to the state of facing horizontally.
The turns of the movable frame 114 are controlled by the activating member 111 and the turns of the activating member is controlled by the plunger mechanism 113. The plunger mechanism 113 includes an attaching portion 120 fixed to the base frame 111, a pair of magnets supported by the attaching portion 120, a pair of bobbins 122 loaded to each of the magnets, whose outer circumference is wound with a coil 121, a plunger movable portion 123 formed of a bifurcated iron piece inserted from an opening side of the bobbin, and the like. Further, the tip part of the iron piece that is the plunger movable portion 123 is magnetically attracted by the magnets.
In the plunger mechanism 113 having such a constitution, when the coil 121 is not in a current-applied state, the iron piece is attracted by the magnetically attracting force generated in the magnet, which makes it possible to acquire an operation to pull the activating member 111. On the other hand, when the coil 121 is in a current-applied state, an electromagnetic force generated in the coil makes the magnetic force of the magnet disappear, which releases the force of the activating member 111 for pulling the iron piece. Further, the activating member 111 includes a hook piece 111a raised vertically and a projection that is made to engage with a plunger movable surface 123.
The flashlight device 108 is fixed to the free-end side of the movable frame 114. The flashlight device 108 includes an upper cover 130 and lower cover 131, stroboscope frame 132, reflector 134 with a light emitter tube 133 loaded thereto and diffusing lens 135, trigger coil 136 and the like. The upper cover 130 and the lower cover 131 are superposed to form a stroboscope housing. Within the stroboscope housing are disposed a trigger coil 136, stroboscope frame 132 and reflector 134 in turn from the back and the diffusing lens 135 is disposed the farthest outside so as to put a lid on the opening side of the reflector 134.
With the flashlight device 108 having such a constitution that is operated to move up and down by the pop-up mechanism 110, since a rise-and-fall angle is as large as approximately 35 degrees, there had occurred the following problems. Namely, as is apparent from FIG. 16, since the flashlight device 108 is projected largely upward on the exterior case 101 at the time of a pop-up, the inside of the stroboscope storage portion 109 is in the state of coming into full view.
Therefore, in order for an inside structure not to be shown, this prior art was so constituted to provide a part that became the bottom of the stroboscope portion 109 in the exterior case 101 so that the exterior case 101 itself served as a cover, which made the inside structure not shown. As a result, since the thickness of the part that became the bottom of the stroboscope storage 109 was not only added to the height of the camcorder 100 but spaces produced up and down the bottom part were added to the height of the camcorder 100, the total amounts of the thickness and the space parts is the overall height of the apparatus, with the result that the problem of the size of the camcorder 100 became larger.